- Complete Game Notes
- Live Stats
- Live Audio (Friday)
- Live Audio (Saturday)
- Live Video
 
STEPHENVILLE - The Tarleton Texans (0-1) welcome A&M-Commerce, East Central and Texas-Permian Basin to the 2012 Taco Bell Texan Tip-Off Classic, which gets underway this Friday, Nov. 16 and will run through Saturday, Nov. 17.
       
Four games are scheduled for the weekend with A&M-C set to take on ECU Friday night at 5 p.m. The Texans and Falcons will follow with a 7 p.m. tip-off later on Friday. A&M-C will turnaround on Saturday to play UTPB with another tip-off set for 5 p.m. Tarleton will then conclude the Classic with a 7 p.m. tip-off against the Tigers.
               
Single-day tickets will be available for $7 (reserved) and $5 (general admission). Tournament passes will not be sold, but fans may watch both daily games with the purchase of a single-day ticket.
 
QUICK HITS
• Tarleton is coming off a season-opening loss for the first time since falling 83-73 to Wingate (N.C.) in the first game of the Disney Division II Tip-Off back on Nov. 16, 2001.
• Tarleton is in the midst of a five-game home streak that runs from Nov. 12 thru Dec. 1. The Texans will not play on the road until Dec. 5 when the team travels to San Angelo to face Angelo State. The contest against the Rams will be Tarleton's first LSC game of the season as well.
 
NOTABLE STORY LINES
• The Texans are coming off its first season-opening loss since 2001.
• ECU head coach Mac McConnell played for the Texans from 1998-2000 under Tarleton head coach Lonn Riesman.
• ECU graduate assistant coach LaShon Sheffield is also a graduate from Tarleton. Sheffield, also played under Reisman and graduated in 2006.
• Tarleton entered the 2012-13 season ranked No. 17 in the NABC preseason coaches poll.
• The Texans have been ranked inside the NABC's Top-25 poll for 18-consecutive weeks heading into the 2012-13 campaign.
• Tarleton has 20+ wins in three-consecutive seasons heading into the 2012-13 season. The Texans have 20+ wins in nine of the last 11 seasons.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• Tarleton leads both of the all-time series with its upcoming opponents in the Taco Bell Texan Tip-off Classic.
• Tarleton is 3-0 against the Falcons all-time and are 2-0 when playing UTPB in the Texan Tip-off Classic.
• The Falcons and Texans last met on Nov. 19, 2010, with the Texans downing UTPB, 81-66 in Stephenville.
• The Texans are 13-2 all-time against ECU, but the two teams have not met since Dec. 4, 2010, after the Tigers defected to the Great American Conference.
• Tarleton is on a current seven-game winning streak over the Tigers. The Texans have never lost to the Tigers inside Wisdom Gym (7-0).
 
TARLETON IN SEASON-OPENERS
• Tarleton snapped a 10-game winning streak in season openers after falling 73-60 to Southwestern Assemblies of God on Monday.
• Tarleton's last loss in a season-opener had come back in 2001 against Wingate (73-83).
• Overall, Tarleton is now 21-4 in season-openers under head coach Lonn Reisman.
 
TEXANS PICKED TO WIN LSC
• The Texans were selected to defend its LSC Championship, earning the No. 1 ranking in the preseason poll released by the league office on Oct. 25, 2012.
• Tarleton received 12 of a possible 29 first-place votes in the poll.
• Midwestern State received 12 first-place votes in the poll as well, but Tarleton took the top spot earning 269 total points to MSU's 262.
 
TARLETON DEBUTS AT NO. 17 IN NABC PRESEASON POLL
• The Texans finished the 2011-12 campaign at No. 9 in the nation and head into the new season at No. 17 according to a preseason poll released by the NABC on Nov. 2.
• Tarleton was the highest ranked LSC team in the preseason poll. Midwestern State debuts at No. 23 in 2012-13 after finishing No. 5 last season.
• Including the 2012-13 campaign, Tarleton has been preseason ranked inside the top-25 seven times.
 
TARLETON RETURNS FIVE LETTERWINNERS FROM 2011-12
• Five letterwinners return to the squad from last season's LSC Co-Chmapionship team. The players include; Cameron Lenzy (So.), Coleman Furst (Jr.), Brian Word (Sr.), Davene Carter (So.), and Damion Clemons (So.).
• Also returning to the team are redshirt freshmen Mercedes Lane and Zach Price.
 
WELCOME TO TARLETON
• Head coach Lonn Reisman welcomes 10 new players to this year's squad, which includes incoming transfers Jon Cathey-Macklin (Jr.), De'Andre Upchurch (Jr.), A'Darius Pegues (Jr.), Chuck Guy (Jr.), Davin Riebock (Jr.), and Devin Mitchell (Jr.) as well as four incoming freshmen; Michael Hardge, Kenny Ferguson, Curtis Woods, and Jakob Damstra.
 
LEADING RETURNERS
• Brian Word returns as the leading Texan in scoring (8.1 ppg) and rebounding (4.4 rpg). The senior guard also returns leading the team with 61 assists and 45 steals.
• Coleman Furst averaged 4.9 points for the Texans last season and tallied 54 assists as well.
 
TEXANS RANKED NO. 1 IN DEFENSE LAST SEASON
• The Texans finished the season ranked No. 1 overall in scoring defense for a second-straight year after allowing opponents to just 56.3 points per game in 2012-13. The Texans allowed just 53.3 points to finish no. 1 in 2010-11.
 
UP NEXT
• The Texans will take the entire week of Thanksgiving off and will not return to the floor until Saturday, Nov. 24.
• Tarleton will host Dallas Christian in non-conference action at Wisdom Gym.
• Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Stephenville.